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F-Bomb: '92 Custom

100K views 566 replies 37 participants last post by  fodder 
#1 · (Edited)


It's been a little over a week since I purchased my first truck of any kind, a '92 Bronco Custom 5.0L A/T. As I continue to bite off more and bigger car projects, I've been finding myself increasingly in need of rides various places to pick things up. I decided it's time to get a proper setup for towing when needed, plus general utility for hauling stuff. I don't have any off-road plans, but you never know.

Someone who was assisting me with a few of those trips suggested I follow the Copart and IAAI auctions for a donor vehicle with some of the parts I was in need of. So, I tested the waters on Copart last week, looking for vehicles of interest and getting the hang of the system, and ended up with the Bronco! I don't know how long they leave completed listings up, but here it is:

Copart USA - Online Live Vehicle Auctions - Bid & Win

(The auction link lasted 4+ years until Copart's 2021 site revamp in conjunction with eliminating free memberships. Oh well. Everything about their service went down the drain simultaneously.)

As you can see, it was an ex-forest service vehicle. Carfax showed only 16 records for the VIN, so it must have been in the gov't fleet up until fairly recently. I didn't order a report to see exactly when it switched over to private ownership.

I had the opening pre-bid at $70, with a max bid of $350 or so. After reading up more on the Bronco, I decided to up my max to $600 or $650. No damage and no mechanical issues listed, so it seemed worth a gamble. Only one other person bid, pushing me up to $90 at auction close. (I've since found enough loose change in it to offset 3.0% of the high bid.) At that point, the reserve price of $675 was revealed. I got a $625 counter-offer shortly after. I hoped to get it just below $600 to knock ~$30 off the buyer fees, so I countered at $550 and the seller countered back at $600. I decided not to push my luck, as it felt like they were drawing a line in the sand. The other one I had bid on previously didn't hit reserve and was pushed back a week.

$600 seemed like a steal, but then there's the $210 in buyer's fees, $59 gate fee, ~$40 credit card fee (I planned to pay by wire transfer for the "low risk" option, only to discover that you can only pay by credit card online, and $107 delivery fee. I was convinced by friends to not get a ride up and risk trying to drive it home, which is a good thing because the lack of mechanical issues in the listing turned out to mean zilch.

I purchased it on a Wed and was told I would hear from the delivery company in ~5 business days to schedule drop-off the following day. To my surprise, I came home Fri evening to see it sitting in front of my house! Keys in the ignition, no sign of the title... They dropped it off at 7:30 pm. I had to wait until Mon to call for more info. They had the title still and were putting it in the mail, but here it is Fri and I still haven't seen it.

The auction photos didn't show how messy the interior was, but I'm more than happy to go parts picking and learn how to fix things up. The frickin' hardtop is held on by c-clamps! All but two of the bolts are missing or snapped off.

Troubleshooting picked up later in the post...

Summary of Improvements:

Engine Stuff...
Driveability & Serviceability Stuff...
Exterior Stuff...
Interior Stuff...
- In progress: GT40 heads & Comp Cams 35-512-8





---

Other issues and oddities (previously the meat of this intro post):

First things first, the truck wouldn't start. I put the battery on the charger overnight and had it at full juice, but just a single click on key turn. The starter relay tested out okay, so I got a new starter in and it fired right up. However, it wouldn't idle unless I kept my foot on the gas. Once I let it die, it was pretty much impossible to start back up until cooled off. I've got about a dozen threads bookmarked of similar problems that I'm working through.

One of the first things I found was a big span was cut out of the black line to the vacuum reservoir. I did a temporary patch job on it, with new silicone vacuum hose on the way to replace all the thin plastic crap, but that didn't really change the start/idle symptoms.

- Throttle Position Sensor has 2 of its 3 wires bare. Motorcraft CX1228 replacement on order.

- Mystery box in engine bay, wired up to starter solenoid and an add-on distribution block. One end goes to cab, other end under the truck. It turned out to be some sort of monitoring device, wired into the speed sensor. But, it turned out worse, as they clipped the speed sensor wire instead of tapping into it, and it was quite difficult to patch a new piece in.

- Lots of moisture in air intake, downstream of the filter. Quite a bit of oil, too. I'll have to read up on what the thinking is behind the oil filler having a relief valve to the air box...

- The gear shift indicator doesn't work. I discovered that the white plastic piece that bolts to the right side of the steering column was broken, leaving it with no spring tension to move the indicator. I found a donor cluster at the junkyard, replacing my badly cracked/fogged/faded lens with a nice clean one, but the white plastic piece was broken on that one, too. So, I've got mine epoxied up and setting overnight. We'll see if it holds solid tomorrow when bolted back on, but if not, I figured out how to remove it from the cluster if I find a replacement.

- The dome light doesn't come on with driver's door, and I've got the base model with no map lights, so pitch black unless reaching across to open the passenger door. The wiring to the door plunger is a chopped up mess, so that'll need replacing. I picked up a Mustang dome light, which if I can get wired up with the addition of a +12V line, at least I'll have manual control of the map lights.

- The Grant GT steering wheel has no horn, just a dummy button... I'm hoping the PO didn't clip the horn wires when they installed it.

- The HVAC panel was faded to the point of being almost completely illegible unless the headlights (backlight) were on. I picked up a replacement at the junkyard. I still need to find a matching knob, as one of my three is broken. Ditto for the headlight knob, but I found a replacement for that. Much broken dash plastic from people yanking it off without knowing there are bolts behind the horizontal trim pieces. I should be getting some "new" interior stuff this weekend.

- Hazard button only brings on 1 of the 4 lights, but all of the turn signals work. You'd think they'd be one and the same.

- No cargo area light, just a blank cap on the interior side of the center brake light with wiring to it. I assume I'll be able to plug a light straight into that when I get one.

- Tailgate lock cylinder was missing, and my dash switch is defective, working in only one direction. I found a spare tailgate cylinder yesterday and checked with a locksmith about getting a key made for it ($35; can't key it to my key because it's from an '86 with different key profile), but am still hoping to get a full matched set this weekend.

I've got Ford Racing M12259R301 spark plug wires, AutoLite 25 plugs, MSD 8227 coil, MSD 8482 cap & rotor, and fuel and air filters on order. It sucks to do all the tune-up work without knowing if the "drive" side of the "runs and drive" equation is carrying its weight, but so it goes. I pulled the ECU (F2TF-12A650-AHB ... '92-93 Bronco F150 5.0L AT E40D) and didn't see any indication of capacitor leakage or board damage that might explain the startup behavior. I cleaned the IAC, but it wasn't particularly gunked up or sticky. The throttle body doesn't look bad, either. Someone must have been in there fairly recently.

The cargo area is pretty much gutted, with the fiberboard side panels being in horrific shape and the spray painted back seat not being anything I would want to sit on, let alone waste all that space having in there. Even the back side windows were spray painted black... I thought that was just bad window tint in the auction photos. Hours of scraping later and I've got them good and clean. I plan on putting 40/20/40 F250/F350 seats in up front, and maybe building side storage units with jump seats in back.

This got quite lengthy and text-heavy. I'll come back through and add some photos to liven it up. :) So far, I've only taken pics of aspects I'm diagnosing or fixing.
 
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#3 ·
Thanks, always reassuring to hear a vote of approval, as I question what I got myself into. :)

Yeah, it's the 302 V8. I was confused by that while researching it, too. It says 5.0 right on it, but I've seen it listed as 4.95L various places, so maybe they rounded down instead of looking at the vehicle? Oh, and when I called about the status of the title (clean), they said their system indicates it was a donated vehicle, despite that not being in the listing. I found Portland parking stubs as recent as two months ago, so it was running up until fairly recently. That makes me hopeful that it'll be functional once I get the engine stuff sorted out. With the overall state of disrepair, they probably figured it wasn't worth the cost of tuning up.

It's been ridiculously wet this week (I fell in water almost up to my knees at the junkyard looking for parts, and it's flat as a pancake there), making it challenging to get any non-interior work done. Pictures have taken a back seat. I did a quick wash-down of the truck, though, so I wouldn't get covered in dirt/moss slime whenever I grabbed a door or leaned over the fender.
 
#4 ·
I scored a nice stash of parts this morning:

- dash tailgate window switch
- ignition/door lock set & 2 keys (will replace the broken collar on my ignition cylinder)
- hardtop bolts and captive nuts
- spare tire and external carrier
- center console
- steering column/wheel (w/ CC, so doesn't match my options)
- non-broken gear indicator cable/mount
- owner's manual
- HVAC knob
- dash in better shape than mine, should I feel compelled to pull it

Plus, I met a cool Bronco dude in town!
 
#5 ·
about that external spare carrier...don't install it unless yours had it before. they put a metal reinforcement in the panels to keep the metal from tearing.


sweet truck!
 
#6 ·
about that external spare carrier...don't install it unless yours had it before. they put a metal reinforcement in the panels to keep the metal from tearing.
That's TBD. I need to poke around in there and see if the backing plate(s) is installed. It looks like the PO bondo'd over the mounting holes when painting the truck white. The outline of them is clearly visible through the paint. From what I was told, the carrier holes wouldn't be there for a truck that didn't come with it. Is that correct?

If so, I'll have to drill out the center of the bondo and then try to get the rest out with wire brushes. That sounds like endless fun.

BTW, even though I was already aware of the concern, I appreciate the feedback that would have saved me much grief if not!
 
#7 ·
I got the dash switch installed and now have a working tailgate window in either direction. Yippee! Maybe I'll celebrate by lowering the glass, then getting some of the hardtop nuts and bolts installed. There's finally a break in the rain this afternoon.

My epoxied white plastic piece on the gear indicator didn't hold up at all, but I got the replacement one installed. I have three of them, with each of them broken in one spot or another. I had to swap good pieces from one over to good pieces from another. I still had a lot of trouble with the slider (that the gear marker is on) binding in the P and R areas, even with the track lubed with white lithium grease. The problem is that the cable sits a bit lower horizontally than the slider, so it gets tweaked in the groove. I eventually got it working fairly reliably with the worst looking of the three springs.

I might dissect the spare steering column and see if I can get the stock '94 steering wheel transferred over to replace my goofy aftermarket one. I probably need to do that before buttoning the dash back up, so doing it now will save a step.
 
#8 ·
I only got one key with the truck (soon to be a non-issue when I put in the lock set I bought today) and had planned on getting a spare or two made before driving it. While securing the hardtop with the proper hardware, I ran across a brand new spare in a hide-a-key box under the horizontal rail it bolts to. Score!
 
#9 ·
sounds like a great adventure and for that price, you're already ahead of the game.

the concern I'd have is you said at the beginning you bought this rig for towing. if you plan on towing anything of any real size, you might not be as happy with the 302.
I recently sold my '90 Custom 5.0 w/275 HP and picked up a '95 XLT 5.8. Both have 4.56 gears and they made a huge difference, but in the end... I just wasn't happy towing with the 302 and I ended up doing it... a lot. It'll do it... but not as happily.





Many will say that the Bronco's wheelbase doesn't make it the ideal towing rig. That's very true... but I've still found them adequate when the job needs done, with some proper preparation and conscious weight loading. Owning a Bronco and having a trailer to haul stuff around is almost required, for me anyway. I picked up that old golf cart, tilt trailer for $600 off craigslist. It's 4' x 11' and I've never wanted for lack of a pickup bed and I laugh at the thought when load up the low riding, tilt trailer. I'm also lucky enough to have a good neighbor with a really nice car/truck hauler, for those emergency or "hook a friend up" deals.
 
#10 ·
the concern I'd have is you said at the beginning you bought this rig for towing. if you plan on towing anything of any real size, you might not be as happy with the 302.
Possibly, but I don't anticipate more than the occasional such usage, and not over long distances, so my performance expectations aren't high so long as it's dependable.

Worst case scenario, the Bronco begs me for an engine swap. :)

I just wasn't happy towing with the 302 and I ended up doing it... a lot.
That's probably the main difference. I wanted something adequate, but not so over-built size-wise that it's not enjoyable the rest of the time. If I could tow more than a bag of potatoes with the Miata, that would be my perfect sized rig!

Owning a Bronco and having a trailer to haul stuff around is almost required, for me anyway. I picked up that old golf cart, tilt trailer for $600 off craigslist. It's 4' x 11' and I've never wanted for lack of a pickup bed and I laugh at the thought when load up the low riding, tilt trailer. I'm also lucky enough to have a good neighbor with a really nice car/truck hauler, for those emergency or "hook a friend up" deals.
Unless it's long and wide stuff like sheets of plywood, or I suppose very tall stuff, I figure I can fit quite a bit in now that I've got the back seat removed. I'm not sure yet what I'll do for a trailer or car dolly, as my property makes it nearly impossible to store, but I've got a few friends I can borrow one from when needed. Or rent a u-haul dolly for the day.
 
#16 ·
axle H5 is 4.10 limited slip rear and 4.09 front.
Awesome, thanks for the link. Your eyes are correct, that does say H5.

KUDOS on the score Brother! ~ :thumbup
Thanks. :) Aside from the Running & Driving unknown, I'm feeling pretty good about it. It looks a helluva lot better already (pics coming soon...), and all my tune-up parts will be trickling in this week.
 
#17 · (Edited)
sounds like you got it all fingered out. fortunately, a great axle setup too. :thumbup
if you find yourself with wheels up in the air, you might try the rolling count test to verify it... being as you never know where it's been or what it's been through.
 
#18 ·
if you find yourself with wheels up in the air, you might try the rolling count test to verify it... being as you never know where it's been or what it's been through.
Not a bad idea. I've read about that test and never figured I'd have reason to employ it.

Okay, time to catch up on some photos...



Better shot of the painted-over door sticker.




Cargo area pretty well gutted. You can see the sloppy black paint over-spray on the back of the front seats. The entire back seats were painted black, but not with much conviction. Given how much the black paint is flaking away around the tailgate, I'm guessing they didn't even bother with primer.




Forest Service green on full display! You can see my neighbor's near-twin, a '92 F250.




Rear view of the cargo area. Visibility is terrific with the back side windows cleared of their black spray paint. Go figure.




Hardtop was held down by c-clamps. That non-OEM bolt sticking up (another one on the other side) was the only other thing sort of holding it in place. Side panels had seen significantly better days.




Dash updates. Replaced faded HVAC panel & missing knobs, mounted trailer brake controller, replaced cracked dash pad, new steering column shroud, replaced ignition lock cylinder, replaced gauge lens and gear indicator.




New dash pad to replace the old cracked one. It had some velcro on it that will need paint blending. Some of those 7 nuts aren't much fun to get to with the dash installed (and the mix of 3/8" and 9mm is annoying), but the pad was my only bad aspect and that seemed preferable to swapping the full dash. I'll need to mask stuff off and do a more comprehensive painting of the dash so it's black all the way up to the window. The PO tried spraying it and realized they were hitting the glass, so abruptly abandoned the project.




Crystal clear gauge cluster lens; a huge improvement over the old cracked and cloudy one. New tailgate window switch. New headlight knob waiting to go on once the cluster surround is back in. The old knob was broken off, so the PO partially broke the cluster surround so they could reach around it to pull the headlight shaft... Brilliant.




Two gauge cluster surrounds to choose from, both broken in different places... Mix and match time!




The aftermarket steering wheel was "prettied" up with a hot glued column shroud that refused to come apart intact. Good thing my spare steering column had a good donor shroud. I'll put the stock wheel on as soon as my puller arrives. I couldn't get enough leverage to pull it off, even with hammer blows to the bolt, with nothing locking the end in place.
 
#19 ·
Big session of parts pulling today. I went to another junkyard I've never been to, part of the same family of yards and specializing more in '90s trucks. They had a '95 (?) Bronco there with most of what I needed to finish things up, but it was the blue/violet/gray interior so I ended up taking almost everything to have a matching set...

- cargo area side panels w/ pockets.
- cargo area retractable shade.
- cargo area window trim.
- cargo light (need to figure out how it mounts to my dummy cover w/out the headliner to hold it in).
- seat belt covers, door trim, windshield trim.
- center console in much nicer shape than the one I got the other day.
- front seat belt stalks (mine have the plastic sheaths all busted up).
- gauge cluster surround w/ almost no broken bits.
- spare dash tailgate switch.
- tailgate cable to replace my one broken one (just ordered a new set this weekend).
- tailgate emblem.
- K&N intake tube that looks like it went with the vehicle before the engine was pulled (has the correct dual TB).
- misc. fasteners and probably a few things I'm forgetting, plus a couple things for two of the other cars.

Now to give everything a thorough cleaning so I can get it installed!

I left the cab headliner, as I wouldn't be able to fit it in my car. That would be a nice addition if I can get the Bronco running to go back for it. Maybe the blue dash, too, if I feel like pulling it for a little nicer one. All those hardtop bolts I just put in, I'll have to take out again to add the clips under them if I want to install the window trim to complete the side panels... Oh, and I left the door panels which were in good shape, since they were electric and don't have the cutout for my manual cranks.
 
#21 ·
I figured we must live close by when I read that in the email notification, and sure enough! It was dry-ish this morning, but then the rain returned with a vengeance...just as my tune-up parts start trickling in. Engine work may end up having to wait till next week.

I got a fair amount done today, although frustratingly slow progress. Taking out all the hardtop bolts (twice, counting the junker) and reinstalling them is surprisingly tiring. Then again, everything wears me out these days. I got the dash all put together and one side of the cargo area mostly done, having to add a number of holes where the side panels don't match the trim my truck came with.

Toward the end, I broke off my drill bit in the wall and may have to take it all apart again if I want to get it out. I can't get at the tip of it with needle nose pliers. I also worked on extracting the two hardtop bolts the PO snapped off, but haven't quite gotten those spinning yet. I'd like to do that now before putting all the window trim on.

I realized I probably should have grabbed, or at least paid attention to, the rear speaker cages at the junkyard. I'm thinking mine don't line up quite right with the side panels now.

My title was supposed to be mailed out a week ago but hasn't showed up yet. I called Copart today and after about 20 minutes of looking into it, the guy said he would have to call me back. He never did. I should have received it 4-5 days ago. They better not have screwed that up.
 
#22 ·
Oh yeah, I was talking shop with the guy at the junkyard today when he asked what I was working on. I mentioned it being an ex-forest service vehicle, which made him perk up. He said those are really tough to come by. He at first poo-pooed the rarity of my 4.10 LSD before realizing what I meant, then said he's yet to see one of those in his 30 years there.
 
#25 ·
Probably a good strategy in general, but the guys at the yards here are real easy to deal with. I didn't realize this yard isn't a u-pull, but he let me go out and look around. I told him I would make a list of anything I found of interest before pulling stuff, to which he gave me a price. I ended up leaving behind a few of those things but grabbing more value in other stuff, but he stuck to the original price quote.

I think you are good to go with the spare rack. You can check for yourself by removing the tail light. I had to reinstall mine because the PO filled the holes with bondo.
Awesome, thanks. Ah, the tail light... Maybe that's what I did at the other yard when I was able to look in there and see the bracket, not from within the cargo area like I was thinking.

The bondo actually wasn't nearly as tough to get out as expected. I used a center punch to poke the middle and pop most of the chunks out, then a combination of the punch and a phillips screwdriver to work the rest out of the threaded section. I followed that with a wire brush and then threading a bolt in and out a couple times.

I'll probably have to buy a new catch (#F2TZ1469A) for the tailgate, since the guy I bought the carrier from sold the whole tailgate to someone else previously. I doubt I'll luck out and find someone willing to sell just the catch unless I run across one at the junkyard, but at least they're only $40-50 new.
 
#28 ·
- Tailgate lock cylinder was missing, and my dash switch is defective, working in only one direction. I found a spare tailgate cylinder yesterday and checked with a locksmith about getting a key made for it ($35; can't key it to my key because it's from an '86 with different key profile), but am still hoping to get a full matched set this weekend.
I meant to come back to this yesterday. While reading the owner's manual, which I didn't have until the weekend, I was surprised to learn that FSB's came with two separate keys: one for doors/ignition and one for tailgate/glove box. So, there's no such thing as a full matched set unless modifying them. Although, even that might not be possible. The '86 tailgate lock I picked up has the reversed keyway from my '92 locks. I assumed that was a generational change, but now I'm thinking it's the case for all tailgate/glove box locks, to make it obvious the wrong key is being used.
 
#29 ·
I was wondering why my 88 has 2 sets of keys one key for doors/tailgate and one for the ignition. I guess I wont bother trying to figure out how to get it down to 1 key. I guess I could always just make it a push button to start.

also, I was going to install a tire carrier on mine, im making it daily driveable and unless I get a pick up, its also going to do all my hauling and somebod told me that if I planned to use it for hauling stuff where I might want to put the tailgate down, like a sheet of plywood, then I couldn't do that with the swing out tire carrier. and I got to looking at it and realized that it really would limit me on what I could do with the tailgate down. I don't know if anyone has any experience with this, but If its going to be used for hauling stuff where you might need to put the tailgate down, you might want to reconsider the swing out tire carrier.
 
#99 ·
Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you. I just saw this post when looking back through the thread for something.

I have wondered about that, as the tire carrier feels like it would torque things quite a bit extended out, even if somehow bungeed to the lowered tailgate. If I need to haul anything that long and wide (i.e. that can't be pushing up between the seats for extra length), my two thoughts are:

1) Use a trailer.

2) Take the spare off the carrier and bungee it with minimal weight on the end.
 
#31 ·
Made quite a bit of progress so far. I've always like the forestry green painting vehicles. What part of PNW are you located at?
It's an acquired taste... My first thought was "hideous," but now I'm sort of wishing it wasn't painted over. I've got the sloppy patch marks on the roof where a yellow service light would have been. Between that and the mint green paint, I would never get pulled over!

We might just be neighbors...

I remembered the "work smarter" mantra and punched the broken drill bit through instead of trying to extract it. That side of the XLT interior is pretty much done.







I haven't decided yet if I'll install the trim up the B-pillar, over the door, down the A-pillar and across the windshield header. I sort of like it blue-ish in back and black up front. One thing I don't care for with the Bronco interiors is they're just one solid color (at least all the ones I've looked at). Dash, seats, carpet, headliner, panels and trim... I'll definitely paint the tan horizontal dash inserts once I settle on colors. I like the silver of the XLT trim.



Dash reassembled with new elements.


I tried to install the XLT cargo light but ran into a few problems:



The obvious one is the different shape -- it's designed to attach to the headliner, not clip into the hardtop like the cap my trim level came with -- but I think I found a workaround to that. Its shape follows the top's contour pretty well, so it could be attached alongside the hole.

However, I couldn't get the light to turn on (bulb looks okay), so I'll need to check if I've got power to the wires. I assumed so, given that they're there and they match the plug for the light. Worse yet, the switch is absolute garbage. I got it to move on the first try, then it jammed up hopelessly. I took it apart several times and couldn't figure out why it was binding. If I can get power to the connector, I think I'll just cut up the light and use its pigtail to wire up something more functional.

Edit: It's not just me suffering from a jammed switch...

http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum...zone/185081-rear-top-dome-light-question.html
 
#32 ·
Today's rainy forecast gave way to sun, and I had a bit of free time before a meeting, so I tackled re-doing of the plastic vacuum lines with silicone hose, in advance of tune-up parts arriving tomorrow.

In addition to the early discovery of the black line from the coffee can reservoir having a ~6" section cut out of it (that I temporarily patched for trying to get the engine idling), I found today that the green line (EGR) was broken in the wire loom. That could perhaps explain the #332 CEL (Insufficient EGR flow detected) I got when pulling codes, although I was thinking more along the lines of a clogged EGR pipe.

The other code was 539 = A/C or Defrost on during KOEO, which seems odd. I thought I had the fan off, but maybe not.
 
#35 ·
FedEx package #1 arrived after lunch, so I got to work on changing out the spark plugs. It's nice not having to disassemble a bunch of intake and valve cover stuff to get to them, but boy is access limited in spots with header heat shields and what not. The old ones weren't looking so good...



I had planned on popping the old wires back on so I can fire it up today or tomorrow, but the boots were crazy hard to get off even with a puller, and one of them started tearing at the elbow. I question whether I can get them off again if I reuse them. Ten days to get the new spark plug wires is agony. :(

That package also had the new TB and IAC gaskets, but the new TPS was coming in FedEx package #2 on a different truck, so I had to wait several hours for that. Just as I was finishing up the spark plugs, it showed up! That's all put back together now, other than the intake which I left off for easier distributor access. And just as I was putting that stuff away, the UPS package arrived with my cap/rotor and ignition coil (plus a bunch of towing stuff). I have another hour and a half of light, but I'm pretty tired, so we'll see...

Here's what I came up with for a temporary tailgate latch for the spare tire carrier, until getting a proper one:



It's obviously insufficient for holding a wheel/tire in place, but I wanted something I could bungee or zip tie the carrier to while [hopefully] driving it this week, keeping the carrier from swinging open.
 
#36 ·
I swapped the old, cruddy tipped generic ignition coil with the new MSD one, then jotted down the wire order on the old Motorcraft distributor cap (coil wire and #8 had quite a bit of crud; a clue?) before calling it a night.

After finding several contradictory firing orders, I confirmed it was set up correctly here. The MSD 8482 cap doesn't have #1 marked, though, which is puzzling. I assume it's the orientation that would have the "MSD" logo be legible from the front of the car. That would put the little black cap/vent thingy halfway between #1 and #8, which sorta makes sense as marking the beginning and end of the sequence.

Edit: Here's the same thing I'm talking about:

http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum/7-1980-96-bronco-tech/120718-need-help-msd-8482-a.html

My above guesses would seem to be correct.

Edit2: Actually, my guess was dead wrong. It turns out, there's a notch on just one side of the cap, and only one way for it to line up...with the MSD logo upside down.
 
#37 ·
Feeling pretty deflated today.

First up was the discovery of a major coolant leak.

I decided to work on something far removed from the engine, running a new dome light wire bundle from a '93 F150. My driver's door plunger had one wire corroded off and one partially soldered back on, and one of the wires in the connector up to the dome light were severed. How it still worked with the passenger door open is beyond me.

Side note: To my surprise, the models with dome-only and with dome/map lights have the same two wires. I assumed there would be a 3rd wire, with one being always hot (for the map lights) and one being switched by the plungers. I'm guessing one is hot, one is switched, and there's no ground wire -- it's just body ground?

The F150 has the exact same connectors and wire colors, but with two additional wires in the empty slots for the 3rd brake light behind the cab. (There's a hint how to wire up a 3rd brake light for Broncos that are going topless for extended periods.) What I didn't count on was the wire being a few inches shorter than the Bronco's. Is our roof higher? I ended up having to fish the other end of the connector through the little access hole behind the door plunger (driver's plunger is at the back of the door on '92, not the front) and up to the back speaker access hole, which of course meant taking the side panels off again to uncover it. I had spliced the F150's non-corroded connector on with just enough extra wire to reach up that far.

With that plugged back in, I reconnected my dome light and the passenger door triggered it as before. I excitedly checked the driver's door and...nothing. WTH? I even used the F150's better condition plunger. There must be another wire rotted somewhere in the circuit. I feel like it would almost be better at this point to just buy a new wiring harness and start from scratch.
 
#38 ·
I have no clue... but I'm interested in the outcome. my new2me '95 has similar behavior at the dome an partial disassembly has revealed a few lights that got way too hot, which I'll be replacing soon. :popc1:
 
#39 ·
I'd recommend LED bulbs if heat is an issue. You'll probably get better light output, too.

After a dinner break, I decided to attempt ending the night on a good note... I installed one of the chrome dome/map lights to see if my repaired wires would get the map lights working now. Sure enough, I fixed that aspect. That answers the confusion stemming from this old post of Steve83's:

The 3 mounting screws hit your original terminals in the roof perfectly (unless you originally had the cheapo dome with no map lights).
The holes still line up on models that had the cheapo dome. It just uses a different hole for body ground, but they're all there.

So, with that working, I tried out the next step: installing the nicer Mustang light. Happily, that worked too. And yes, it is much, much brighter than the chrome Bronco/F-series one. Now to build a base so it sits flush against the roof, and see about getting some #578 LED bulbs for it.
 
#40 ·
I forgot about this post: http://www.fullsizebronco.com/forum/718181-post22.html

So yeah, body is ground, black/blue is the door switch, and green/yellow is hot. That makes sense, because my green/yellow wire is the one that was rotted out.

I did my re-wiring in a way that the connectors would be higher up and not sit in pooled water by the seat belt reel. That and I tossed the yellow-insulation-in-a-bag(s) that contributes to water pooling.
 
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